


When It All Started

by lolahardy



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:55:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolahardy/pseuds/lolahardy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired fully by eamesdatbooty's (dragqueeneames) gif set, When it all started. I followed the order of the gif's (more or less) on how Arthur and Eames first met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When It All Started

Arthur sat impatiently in the car, glancing at his wrist watch, the car's clock over the CD player and his cell phone, in that order, at least a dozen times. He huffed again as he thought to himself, for what had to be the thousandth time; 'damnit Mal...'

It had been her idea to go out in the first place. Now after a tiring day of work, going home, having a faster dinner, taking a shower and stressing himself out for god knows what reason over what to wear, he sat in his car waiting for Mal. He had rushed over to her place at ten, hearing her frantic and consistent phone calls of 'Oh my god, we're never going to get in at half price!' or 'Arthur, come on! You need to come over here right now!' When he called her to let her know he was double parked outside her apartment, she sheepishly said she was trying to hang up with Dom. 

"Two seconds." She had said.

That was twenty minutes ago. 

Arthur had to circle the block twice while he waited and he would once again, check his wrist watch, the car's clock over the CD player and his cell phone.

"Damnit Mal..."

On the other side of the city, Eames sat in his SUV. He was bored and out of cigarettes and irritated that he was still waiting when he had been promised a couple of free drinks for a five minute wait time. 

A half hour later, Eames was nowhere near a drink and Dom was still on his cell phone, going through the same drama he always had with his girlfriend. Yusuf had already rung him five different times and each time, Eames swore they were on their way only to look back at Dom who looked as if he was gunning for his Best Actor Oscar. He sighed, bringing his hand to his mouth, mindlessly running the underside of his nail over his jagged teeth, wondering if he should threaten to leave or just flat out go.

"Dom...I'm leaving."

He stuck his head out the window and said it was a stern voice, meaning business and he wasn't bluffing either. He hated to be made to wait, he hated that Dom promised him drinks to keep him there and he hated that he was stupid enough to believe he was telling the truth when he said he would get in the car after the first half hour passed while all he was really doing was pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of his apartment, yelling into his cell phone. When he made his claim, Dom held up a finger, though not looking at Eames and that had been it.

"Oh, I've about had enough of this bloody bullshit..."

He turned on the engine and put the car into drive as he pulled away from the curb, faintly hearing Dom yelling at him to wait.

Arthur had finally made it to the bar with Mal. She was upset and angry and demanded four shots of SoCo and lime right off the bat. Arthur ordered a beer and drank it while she went on and on about what an asshole Dom was. He had hung up on her in the middle of their argument which just made Mal furious. Arthur nodded and tried to sympathize but really, it had been the same song and dance for about five years. They would be sickeningly sweet to each other, then Dom would say or do something, Mal would tear him a new one, they would get into fights that lasted days and then make up. Repeat. 

Arthur often told her to just break it off, move on already. But she would shake her head and say no. When Mal would get drunk, she would light a cigarette and say with watery eyes how much she loved Dom, she loved him. She wanted him to be the father of her children. So Arthur would sigh, rub her arm and tell her it would be all right. Repeat.

He had gotten in two beers and four of his own shots thanks to Mal, when he felt a good warm buzz happening. Mal told him it was a good thing and she told him to keep drinking. He started to loosen up and feel good so he took another shot with her. When he slammed down his glass, Mal turned and dug through her purse, digging out her ringing cell phone and answered. She yelled over the noise, plugging her ear with her finger as she then said to Arthur,

"I can't hear anything! I'll be right back!"

He turned to watch her leave when his eye caught the sight of someone.

He was gorgeous...broad, messy, short bedhead dark blonde hair, facial hair and scruff surrounding a firm jawline and the thickest, sexiest lips that conjured up all sorts of illicit thoughts in Arthur's mind. He wore a denim button down shirt that had the sleeves pulled up around his elbows, the back of the shirt tucked in, the front shirt tails hanging messily over the front of his loose fitting jeans. The buttons where done in a way so there was a natural v-neck from the shirt, peeks of tattoos hinting at his skin. Arthur felt his mouth water as he stared, the alcohol causing him to forget all sorts of public etiquette. The guy was talking to someone on the other side of the bar and when he looked up by chance, Arthur felt himself smiling stupidly in return. The guy looked back down, resuming his conversation and Arthur quickly turned to the bar, rolling his eyes at himself, wanting to punch himself in the face for smiling like a loon at some stranger. He was never more grateful when Mal came back and suggested they get a table.

Eames had noticed the young looking boy at the bar the moment he had gotten inside which had lightened his mood considerably. He ignored his phone ringing when Dom called and after lighting a cigarette, he sat and chatted with a mate of his while keeping an eye out for Yusuf, who had gone to the bathroom. He resisted smiling at the had-to-be-illegal boy at the bar when he looked up and saw him eyeing him in return. 

Though it had been a nice smile. Dimples and all.

When Yusuf finally made an appearance, he got up to join him but Yusuf was just as pissy as he was when he first walked in.

"Jesus, what took you so long? I waited and waited and you fucking tosser, telling me you were on your way! Are you even listening?"

Eames was listening but his focus was now on the young thing sitting at a small table with a rather pretty girl.

"Yeah mate, I'm listening...it was Dom's fault. I would have never gotten here if I hadn't left him at the curb."

Yusuf followed his line of vision, seeing he was looking at the table with the boy and the girl drinking. He looked back at Eames.

"Ah, another fight with the missus?"

"Yeah, you know Dom and the missus."

"Going to strike up a conversation with the jailbait at the table with the bird?"

"If he's jailbait, I'll be right back."

Arthur had started work on another beer when he saw that guy, half listening to Mal's story about how Dom called to apologized and begged her to come over later that night. He nodded and 'uh-huh'ed' in the appropriate places but kept his eyes trained on the guy, trying to be-but failing miserably, subtle. He tensed a bit when he saw him walking over, his walk that of confidence and more of a swagger then a walk anyway. He swallowed hard as Mal kept talking but then stopped when the guy was suddenly at their table. They both looked up as he had his eyes on Arthur the whole time, even while acknowledging Mal.

"Excuse me, don't mean to be rude and interrupt your conversation, but I was wondering if I could get a word with him."

Arthur was speechless and Mal was suddenly grinning ear to ear. She cleared her throat as she quickly got out of her seat, digging through her purse as she took out a few bills, dropping them on the table.

"Of course you could. In fact, I was just leaving."

She pressed her hand to Arthur's shoulder, kissing his cheek as his panicked face glared at her, his hand grabbing her wrist as she freed herself and smiled. He then turned back to the extremely gorgeous man now sitting at his table, giving him a grin.

"I won't bite, poppet."

Of course he was English. Arthur, while swooning mentally, cleared his throat and sat up straight, doing his best not to act as if he wasn't half drunk or taken in. He then extended his hand to him.

"Eames."

Arthur took it, shaking his hand.

"Arthur."

The warmth of his hand made Arthur feel blush but he fought it with every bit of his being and drank the rest of his beer in one shot instead.

"Another round then?"

Arthur nodded as Eames waved over a waitress.

Conversation flowed easily. Eames quickly found out that while Arthur looked young, was actually well past the jailbait age, which meant he didn't go back to Yusuf for the rest of the night. They drank and spoke and Eames smoked while Arthur watched him with fascination. Finally, blurry eyed and completely trashed, Arthur blurted out,

"I think you're really...really hot. Usually, I'm more composed then that but I'm...really drunk."

"Mmm...I can see that. Well, I thought the same thing, if it's of any consolation."

"You wanna go back to my place?"

Part of his mind yelled at him for bringing back strangers to his apartment, especially bigger, sexy strangers that could possibly rob him or kill him. But the other part of him was so turned on by Eames and the idea of sex with him was so appealing, he reasoned with himself a few earthly possessions were probably worth it. Besides, he was English, there was no way he'd kill him. At least that's what his alcohol soaked brain reasoned with.

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah..."

"I'd love to then."

Arthur wasn't really sure how they made it back to his place. He knew neither one of them drove since they were both drunk though he was sure a cab had something to do with it. He faintly remembered getting to his door, fumbling with the keys and having Eames laugh which made him laugh and struggle with the keys and lock even more. When he finally got the door to open, they stumbled inside, slamming the door shut behind them, Arthur dropping the keys somewhere as Eames practically picked him as they kissed, a fury of torn clothes and kicked off shoes from the door to the bedroom. Arthur wasn't even sure they would make it, especially when Eames reached down and touched his cock through his underwear and rubbed him ever so carefully. Arthur choked and swore he was going to come and...

...and that was the last thing he remembered.

In the morning when nausea rudely stirred him from his sleep, Arthur sat up from his bed, pantless and alone. He blinked a few times, his tongue moving around his mouth, trying to dislodge the cotton balls that didn't exist as he slowly got up and wobbled to his door, trying not to upset his stomach. He was still wearing his sweater vest, white oxford and tie, his briefs but no pants, no socks. There was no evidence in his bedroom that anything had happened other then his pantless self going to bed. As he gently walked out to the living room, he saw nothing, just everything as it had been and he wondered if last night had happened at all.

It was a day later as Arthur went out for coffee, that he heard his phone ring. He dug it out from his pocket and looked at the screen seeing Eames' name showing up. He was surprised and curious as to this turn of events as he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello Arthur dearest. Are you feeling any better?"

"Better?"

"Well, I thought it best to let you get some sleep since the last time I saw you, you weren't your ample best."

"What happened?"

"If you come out to meet me for coffee, I'll tell you."

Arthur looked at the cup of coffee in his hand and quickly threw it away.

"Ok. Where?"

The sun was bright and high in the sky as Eames sat next to a window seat in a coffee shop and waited. He saw Arthur a moment later, wearing khakis and soft blue oxford, his hair causal and tossed about that made him look so young. He smiled at the sight of him and when he walked in, Eames waved him over to join him at his table. As soon as Arthur sat down, he looked a little embarrassed and couldn't meet his eyes.

"Did you get your car?"

"The very same night. You?"

"Yeah, I got it back the next day...despite the hang over."

Eames chuckled to himself, a smile turning the corners of his perfect lips.

"How did you get my number?"

"I programmed mine in your mobile, then called myself."

"Oh."

"I'm glad you came."

"I wasn't sure you'd want to see me again. On my way over here, I figured I must have done something awful and embarrassing for you to leave before we even did anything."

Eames laughed again and Arthur felt the burn on his face.

"It wasn't like that at all. We started to...but when we got to your bedroom, you fell back on your bed and passed out. I was no better for the wear, I fell asleep right beside you. When I came to, I figured you didn't want to be sick in front of a stranger, so I got your number and gave you the day."

"Oh...so I didn't scare you off."

"No, you didn't."

Arthur made a face, then smiled as he started to laugh to himself, shaking his head for having been worried over nothing. Eames smiled and laughed in return.

"So, coffee?"

"Yes."

"Just one more question and I'll get the coffee."

Arthur waited.

"Does this count as a second date or is it a redo of the first?"

Arthur thought for a moment, then smiled again, dimples appearing as he said,

"Second date."


End file.
